Digital Logos Edition
This farewell gift on 1 Clement to Harnack’s students of church history was formative for studies of 1 Clement for several decades after its publication, and it remains an influential work even in contemporary discussions of this ancient letter. Harnack contends that 1 Clement is the most important witness to early Christianity, and that a close study of this work will place the reader upon the right path to better understand its later developments. Also included within this volume are four influential essays that Harnack wrote throughout his career pertaining to 1 Clement as well as a historical introduction and assessment of Harnack’s work by Larry Welborn.
Jacob Cerone’s edition of Adolf von Harnack’s seminal study of 1 Clement is an outstanding premiere to what promises to be an impressive series, Classic Studies on the Apostolic Fathers. From the characteristically erudite introduction to Harnack’s essay by Prof. Larry Welborn, to the smooth translation of Harnack’s influential ‘farewell gift’ to his church history students, to the four still-valuable articles on 1 Clement by Harnack appended to the essay, this volume shines with insight. For anyone interested in 1 Clement—which should be any student of early Christianity—this is a must-have volume.
—David J. Downs, author of Alms: Charity, Reward, and Atonement in Early Christianity
This fine little volume provides a clear and lucid rendering of a classic German study not widely known and only rarely used by English readers of 1 Clement. The vibrant contemporary style and careful sensitivity to von Harnack’s original emphasis is admirable. Cerone’s careful work is much appreciated, and serious students of the Apostolic Fathers do well to have this publication available for their own research.
—Clayton N. Jefford, Professor of Scripture, Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology
It is fortunate and salutary that this collection of influential studies on 1 Clement—including Harnack’s last monograph—is now competently translated for a broader readership. Bearing a peculiar scholarly flavor today, these studies will certainly be of direct interest to scholars of 1 Clement and early Christianity, and at the same they will provide students with select material for incursions into the history of the field.
—Dan Batovici, author of The Shepherd of Hermas in Late Antiquity